Treaty ports

The Treaty ports were port cities in China that were opened to foreign trade by the unequal treaties with the Western powers. The British established the first treaty ports following the 1842 Treaty of Nanking, which followed the end of the First Opium War; China ceded Hong Kong to Britain in perpetuity, and opened the ports of Shanghai, Canton, Ningpo, Fuchow, and Amoy to the British. The Chinese proceeded to open their ports to the United States in 1843 and to France in 1844, and more treaty ports were opened up following the Second Opium War in 1860. China's ports were taken over by most foreign powers, even including the Congo Free State and Latin American countries. The Western powers decided that simply annexing China would be unnecessary, as they were able to enjoy China's wealth through its treaty ports. This system ended with the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific in 1941, during which the Japanese took over most of the treaty ports from the Chinese and the Western powers.